Stripes
by the unstable ones
Summary: 5 cats belonging to a laboratory are released. 4 of them are kits, and all of them must survive in the wild. Rated T for warriors stuff.
1. Till we all are loose

_Prologue_

Mix padded around, her kits following. She pricked her ears and heard the murmur of one of the scientists. _The kind one, hopefully..._ she thought as she walked up to the door of her large cage. Sure enough, it was the kind young one. She mewed desperately, waving her tail at the open door outside of her cage and butting her head against the cage's door. He sighed and looked at her knowingly. She nuzzled the scientist's finger and he sighed, unlocking the cage door. Mix scurried out and looked up at him, her amber eyes gazing before running into the night. A lab is no place for a cat...

-o-o-

She had ran as far as possible before her legs gave way, dropping the kits and letting them bound around her. She looked at them. _Even-gendered. Two girls, two boys._ She ran her tongue over the smallest one's head, the tiny she-kit squeaking in protest. She had the same crazy stripes as her, in cream and brown, and her tail was ringed with the same colours. Even her paws and legs followed some strange pattern. Her gaze was distant as she looked at the others. Blue-gray striped, dark brown striped, golden striped.. all white underneath. Mix sighed and beckoned them too her, resting in a tree's roots with all of her kits.

-o-o-

Mix woke at the first light of dawn, the sun slowly dappling through the leaves of the trees above her. The grass felt soft and the mud dry. She felt the pang of hunger wrack through her body. Surely she could hunt? She had tried it before, on the toys.. _Worth a try..._ After a bit of wandering, she came across a mouse. It would be a challenge, but if she tried.. Mix darted to the plump white creature, biting and slashing at it. She sighed and picked it up. Very messy, but it was food, and she was hungry. She ran back to the tree, relief rushing through her when she saw her kits just waking up.

"Mama, why is it all red?" the smallest kit piped up, as she sniffed at it and poked it with sheathed claws.

"It's the only food we have and I'm not the best hunter." Mix said, sighing. "Kits! Come here!" They all scurried at her call. "You're old enough to eat this now. It's not the best, but it'll do." Mix gulped, taking her fair share. "Don't hog it all to yourself. You know better." She quickly ate the mouse. _Not that bad, actually..._ She gazed away into the forest and beyond, disturbed only by the cry of the blue-gray striped tom.

"Mama, why aren't we with all the tall ones?" he asked, sitting down and looking around as if it was a game.

"Because.. we can't stay there." she said simply. Far away, the faintest scent of cats calling her. "Kits? Are you ready for some more walking?"

-o-o-

It took uncountable time to reach where the smell of cats was strongest. Mix and her kits and half-starved, saved by the odd genorisity of both people and cats. She looked at the mixed lands before her.

"Kits." she said, and they all sat at her paws. "You must go. Choose. Do your mother a favour... I'll be gone... Maybe still with you. Go!" Mix rushed off before her kits could protest, to a safe place where she could still see her kits.. maybe...


	2. In the blue night

_Chapter 1 - In the blue night_

In the night, a small kit wandered aimlessly.

He'd never been given a name by his mother; he just called himself Blue. For his markings. _For part of Mama's markings. _He shook his head. _No thinking of mama,_ Blue thought, _she's gone now. We have to go it alone._ The thought of his loved mother made him want to curl up and shut himself out from the rest of the world.

In the night, a whisper of wind shook a tiny kit.

Blue kept his wandering. It was the darkest of dark-time; Mama had ensured in their journey they were all asleep by then. But Blue kept wandering.

In the night, a kit fell deep into the river.

-o-o-

The first thing Blue's mind registered when he awoke was the scent of cats.

Then, the moss beneath him. The warm body around him. The fading wetness from the river, and an odd smell he couldn't place his paw on. The cat around him perked up when she heard him stir. She looked up. Blue eyes met another pair of blue eyes. He blinked and stretched his tiny limbs, before coughing and spurting out some water. The she-cat just put her tail over his back.

"Where am I?" he asked, staring at the she-cat.

"You're in the RiverClan medicine cat's den. I'm Glimmertail, the medicine cat of RiverClan. Hawkpaw's my apprentice, though I've had him look for some herbs we were running low on. What's your name, kit?"

He stuttered for a moment. "Well, uh, Mama never gave me a name... I just call myself Blue." The she-cat smiled fondly.

"A very fitting name then." Glimmertail nodded to the outside. "I'll go tell Rainstar you're awake, no doubt he'll be pleased." she mewed, slipping out of the den. Blue sighed and curled up again, but before he could get comfy sturdy paws walked into the den and herbs dropped to the ground.

"Oh, you're awake. I guess Glimmertail introduced me and herself? I'm Hawkpaw, if you couldn't guess." he said, before heading off, though his tail stuck out slightly as he muttered under his breath about the herbs. Blue couldn't help but snicker a bit as he heard Hawkpaw struggle with the herbs.

-o-o-

Things in RiverClan drifted by pretty quickly. Not to soon after Rainstar visited I was given a Clan name, Bluekit, and was introduced to the other cats of the Clan. _But nothing would fill the void in my heart left by the loss of Mama and my siblings..._


End file.
